Of Offices, Gossip, and Fake Fiancees
by Kiwi Ootori
Summary: Draco and Hermione work together and get along okay, but when Hermione gets odd and shocking news from her family, the fact that Draco owes her big time may be the only thing that can save her.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, otherwise Dramione would be canon. Thanks for reading~**

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Hermione ran her fingers through her unruly curls and made a face into the mirror. It was humid, and her hair had acted accordingly, frizzing up and becoming hard to manage. She decided on a messy bun and pinned it up a few times before she was satisfied. Then, she admired her reflection for a moment. She wore a nice, white polo shirt tucked into a tight pencil skirt that hugged her features and matched the black heels on her feet. Her makeup was perfect, not too much, but just enough to go with the modest jewelry she wore, just a professional necklace and black earrings. Glancing at her watch, she walked over and picked up her purse. She couldn't be late for work. She took her job very seriously, and as fun as it was to know you were the most talked about woman in the company for many reasons, she would rather be buried in papers and cases instead of walking around and chatting aimlessly just to show herself off. She'd changed quite a bit since she graduated Hogwarts, instead of being the 'bookworm', she was an esteemed lawyer and a sight for any man, or woman, if she swung that way. She stepped into the lift and checked her reflection in the mirrored walls as the doors closed. Working on magic cases was rather stressful, but she didn't want anyone to know she was frazzled about her latest case. She had a reputation to uphold. The lift opened on the floor before hers and in stepped Draco Malfoy himself. Hermione nodded at him in greeting.

"Good morning." She said as the door closed again.

"Morning, Granger, though I wouldn't say it's a good one." He was rather early, and she was curious. His words only stemmed her curiosity.

"I haven't noticed anything wrong so far. Hard day already?" He nodded and the door dinged open on their floor. They stepped out together as he answered.

"Hard cases and women. More the women today, though. Why do you care to ask, Granger?" She rolled her eyes.

"We work together, Malfoy." She snapped. "Or, you know, we're supposed to!" He shrugged carelessly.

"We haven't had a conjoined case in over a week."

"You left me in the lurch on the last one! You owe me, remember that, Malfoy." He scoffed as he stopped at his office door.

"What are you gonna do, Granger? Call Potter and Weasel on me? I already said I was busy." She rolled her eyes again and glared at him.

"Probably _busy _shagging that blonde girl who was hanging all over you!" She made a face, remembering the girl. "I was trying to be nice, and now look, we're arguing again!" He opened his door.

"I have higher standards than _her__, _thank you very much. And you're not one to be talking. What about that time you were almost late to court? And you showed up all out of breath with your clothes askew? Whose fault was that, Weasel-boys?" It took everything in her to keep herself from blushing, but she retained her calm demeanor.

"I have higher standards than _him_ too, thank you very much." She said, mocking him. "I woke up late. I was tired." She turned on her heel, cutting him off before he could speak by walking away. "You still owe me, Malfoy!" she said over her shoulder.

"In your dreams, Granger!" she heard him retort as she turned the corner. He really did aggravate her to no end. After school ended, they had decided to try and be civil, since they were now adults and working together. They got along okay, better than before, because they were often put on cases together and were forced to endure each others company. Honestly, she didn't mind him when they were working on a case, because he was hard working and serious, and easy to work with. But he still liked to tease her, or whatever it was. She heard heels and looked up to see Ginny walking towards her, a smile on her face.

"Hermione! Glad I caught you. I was asked to give you this packet. It contains information about your current case." Hermione smiled and took the packet form her hands, turning it over to look at the note on the back.

"Thank you, Ginny! This case was getting on my last nerve, we barely had any information on it." Ginny worked almost like a secretary, filing cases, finding information, taking calls, and many other things that were much needed. Now, she handed Hermione a packet.

"There's going to be a meeting later, be sure not to forget it!" Her eyes twinkled. "You know, you and Malfoy are the center of all the latest gossip. Everyone went crazy when the two of you walked in together." Hermione groaned and opened the door to her office.

"Like I said the other day, we're barely friends. I don't know why people think something's going on!"

"Because you're the hottest woman here and he's the hottest man in the universe." Hermione mock gasped and gently nudged Ginny with her elbow.

"Ginny! What would Harry think if he heard you say that?!" The other woman giggled as she shut the door behind them.

"Oh, he's heard me say it! He says I'm going blind and I should have my eyes checked!" Hermione laughed and sat at her desk, ruffling through the papers.

"Poor Harry!" She said, shaking her head. "Oh, and just because Malfoy wears designer clothes and is rolling in money doesn't make him the 'hottest man in the universe'."

"That's not all it is and you know it." Pansy's high-pitched voice sounded from the door as she closed it behind her. Hermione smiled at her before going back to the papers on her desk. She'd recently become friendly with the former Slytherin, who worked just down the hall. Pansy wasn't as bad as Hermione had once thought, and vice versa. The only drawback was that she, like every other woman in the bloody building, was interested in Malfoy. She now sashayed over to the desk. "You two seemed rather friendly walking in together today. When are you going to admit that you think he's attractive? You know good and well that he is." Hermione groaned again.

"I already said that yes, he is attractive, but his attitude is a turn-off! He's selfish, conceded, and rather rude." Pansy riffled through the papers on Hermione's for a moment before finding the paper she needed.

"I find it a huge turn-on, myself. And so does every other woman, and probably the men too." She held up the paper. "This is what I needed, thanks for finding it." She went to the door to leave and then turned back around. "You'll realize it soon enough." She said before shutting the door again. Her heels clicked away from the door and Hermione went to open her window.

"All of you people are going to drive me crazy one of these days. It's always about him." Ginny giggled.

"We _are_ women, 'Mione! And he _is_ sexy!" The brunette girl rolled her eyes once again.

"I'm done talking about that git. I'll see you at the meeting, Ginny." The other woman said goodbye, and when Hermione was finally alone, she sat down and began to look through her papers. It annoyed her that there was so much gossip involving her and Malfoy. Yes, he was sexy and he smelt good and he wore the best clothes, but she had already convinced herself that she did not like him like that. He was the only man who didn't stare as she walked in, the only one who wasn't likely to jump at the option to sleep with her. She wondered if that was why she felt the need to have his attention, she had gotten so used to the eyes that not having his annoyed her. She did not want to be that shallow, and she scolded herself for thinking such things. Draco Malfoy was her co-worker, acquaintance, but no more. She had to get him out of her head, and she did so as she buried herself in her work.

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**So yeah... Reviews are appreciated! I hope you liked it!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter blah blah... Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

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Hermione Granger straightened her clothes as she stood from her desk, gathering the papers she needed for the meeting before heading out her door. People milled around, most of them headed to the meeting room, as she was. She was joined by Ginny once again, who talked angrily about one of women in the office who had tried to hit on Harry the day before. Hermione listened like a good friend, and nodded when she thought it was necessary. Ginny only stopped talking when they got to the meeting room, and Hermione expected she would have talked longer if they hadn't made it to the crowded room. She took her normal seat, and was surprised when Malfoy sat down next to her. She looked to his normal seat, across from her, and saw that it was taken by Pansy. The girl smiled as innocently as she could at Hermione, but she had a mischievous glint in her eyes. Hermione sighed at the other girls antics and looked over at the man beside her as he began to talk.

"Did you get any new files on the Bell case, Granger?" He was talking business, which was good.

"I did," she answered. "Unfortunately, there wasn't much, but I did find one thing that could make a good point. This case is rather taxing, honestly. The man is insane and they want to let him go!" He nodded, understanding. The case she was on was about a man who had murdered a family of muggles, and was suspected of of murdering even more that they didn't know of. His mind had been warped by a spell gone bad, but they'd had no evidence and there were some wizards who said to let him go. Draco's was much easier, just a witch who had broken some laws, but she went ahead and asked him how his was going anyways. He shrugged when she asked.

"We have hard evidence against her, so she wont be let go. I got lucky with an easy case." He looked away from her as their boss came in, and she caught Ginny's eye. The red haired woman, who was grinning widely, winked at her. Hermione simply turned away, focusing instead on their boss as he began to speak. The meeting was a normal one, they spoke about the latest problems and cases in the magic world. After they had been released, Hermione stayed behind to speak to her boss about her latest case, in which he was very interested in and he wanted to win. She was done rather quickly, and when she stepped out, Malfoy was waiting for her. That surprised her.

"Oh, hello!" He stepped towards her and she resisted the urge to step back. Oh, how those gossips were going to talk now.

"I wanted to ask you what you thought about my argument." He said, handing her some papers. So he was still in business mode. She relaxed and took it, reading it as she began to walk. Well, not really reading, just scanning the important parts. He walked beside her, and suddenly, his hands were on her shoulders and he was guiding her around a group of people. She looked up to see him nod at them and the women giggle. He smirked down at her. "Watch where you're going, Granger. We almost had to explain a large collision." She flushed a bit, but pushed it down.

"I'm reading _your _papers, I remind you. I cant read and look in front of me at the same time." She decided to tease him a bit. "It's your job to make sure I don't run into anything, Malfoy." He rolled his eyes.

"I've already saved your arse from embarrassment at least twenty times." He guided her around a chair. "Without me, you'd probably be dead." His hand lingered on her shoulder, but she didn't notice. When they worked together, he often had to steer her down the hall, for her eyes were usually stuck on papers or some book she had to read. She took her eyes off the paper and smiled at him.

"See? It's your job." He scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Next time, I'll push you into whatever or whoever is in your path." He drawled. "Maybe then you'll be appreciative." She feigned being offended as she handed him his papers.

"See if I ever help _you _again!" He smirked again, his signature Malfoy look.

"Sure you will, you're too nice to turn anyone down." He then became serious, and she marveled at how fast his facial features changed. "So, how was it?" He asked, referring to the paper. Hermione smothered a smile. He had only begun asking her opinion recently, and, as he said, 'it was just because he needed a second opinion and everyone else that worked with them were numskulls.' She didn't mind doing it, especially since they had started working on cases together.

"You'll win. Your points and facts are impossible to get around." She paused as he opened the door to his office. "It's really good. One of your best." His smirk quickly came back.

"Of course it was, this case was a breeze! I got lucky this time." She pretended to pout, and it occurred to her it looked like she was flirting.

"Curse your Malfoy luck. You left me with a hard case and got off with the easiest one of your career!"

"Now, now, Granger, no need to be upset." He shook his head and placed a hand on her shoulder once again. Yes, this was definitely flirting. And it was odd. "Not all of us can be so amazingly lucky." She let out a laugh.

"Of course not. But when you get a hard case like this, don't come crawling to me. I'll be the lucky one then." He smirked and removed his hand.

"Oh, like you haven't asked me questions involving your case."

"You just came to me with questions on the 'easiest case ever', so I wouldn't be talking if I were you." He opened his office door.

"Well, you're obviously not me, Granger. " He pointed out. She acted relieved.

"Oh, thank Merlin! That would be terrible!" He chuckled before walking into his office.

"It would be an improvement, Granger." She scoffed as she turned to leave.

"Oh yes, I'm sure it would be splendid." She walked away and heard him shut the door with a little less malice than he had that morning. Eyes followed her to her office and pierced her until she'd closed her office door, but she'd gotten rather accustomed to them and barely noticed their gaze. As she sat down at her desk, she noticed she had a message. It was from her parents in Australia, and she was curious, as most of the messages she got were just from clients. She took a deep breath and began to read.

'Hello Hermione, we hope you're doing okay! We wanted to ask you to come to the latest family reunion. We purposely scheduled it when you told us your vacation started in the last letter! Everyone will be there, and they'll love to see you again. Oh, and did you forget to tell us you were engaged? We heard from your cousin that you recently got engaged, and we're very happy for you! We figured you would tell us soon, since she found out just the other day, so we aren't mad! You should bring him to the reunion, everyone wants to meet him! We never thought you'd be able to get over John's betrayal, but we are so glad you finally moved on. We hope to see you soon! Love, Mum and Dad.' She stared at the paper, her eyes wide. Engaged? What?!

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**Oh my goodness, so sorry for taking forever! I hope you liked this chapter, I will try not to procrastinate as much in the future. Thank you all for the kind reviews and for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you all for reading so far!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Seriously, at all. Well, except for the made up cousins. (I think)**

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Hermione sat in her chair, stunned speechless. Who had told them that lie? Another letter suddenly fell into the stack and she picked it up, seeing it was from a close cousin of hers.

"You're engaged? Or is Mel simply making things up? - Dillion." So it was Mel. The cousin who had taken the last man she'd loved and turned him against her. She wanted to embarrass her by making her admit that she still didn't have another man! Hermione saw red. Her blood boiled and it was all she could do not to scream. She quickly replied to Dillion and sent it.

"She's the one who told everyone that I'm engaged? - Hermione."

"Yes, she sent everyone an email after we all found out about the reunion. I figured that she was just trying to make you feel bad about yourself, seeing as it will double as their wedding party. - Dillion."

"It's doubling as a their wedding party? Why does no one tell me these things... - Hermione."

"Well, your mum and dad are really excited that you moved on. I really hope this isn't another one of Mel's antics. - Dillion"

Hermione stared at the words. She couldn't let down her parents, they must be so proud. She honestly wasn't over the pain and betrayal of her last relationship, but she was going to have to get over it sooner or later. She needed to find someone to pretend to be her fiancee, however shady it may be. She was getting emails rapidly now, from her family, all asking the same thing. 'You're getting married?!' They all sounded ecstatic, and she just couldn't tell them that Mel had been lying. But who could she ask? Suddenly, it hit her and she jumped from her seat and headed quickly down the hall. When she got to Draco's office, she all but threw open the door and flew in, shutting it quickly behind her. He looked up at her, surprised, before smirking.

"Well, Granger, I know I'm pretty irresistible, but there's no need to barge in here, there's plenty of time!" She rolled her eyes and strode over to his desk, slamming her hands down.

"Enough with the sarcasm, Malfoy. I came in here to ask you a question." He raised his eyebrows as he put his papers into a neat pile.

"Oh really? And what is this question so important that you had to come to my office?" She grabbed a chair and sat down across from him, letting herself rest for a moment and calm herself down. The, she tugged at a loose strand of hair as she began to tell him her predicament. When she finished, she took a deep breath before adding her request.

"I need you to pretend to be my fiancee." He looked at her, an unreadable expression on his face.

"And why did you think that I would do this for you of all people?" She huffed impatiently. Leave it to him to be difficult.

"You owe me, remember? This is what I want in return for bailing you out. Plus, it's on our vacation week. After the party with my family, you can do whatever you want to do and go wherever you want to go. You don't have to spend any more time with me than needed." He still didn't look too thrilled, so she decided to push him a bit. "You could have been fired, if not for me sticking up for you. I figure you owe me big time." He groaned and leaned back in his chair.

"Fine, fine! But don't get a big head about it, we are _not _actually engaged." She smiled.

"Oh trust me, I wont. Who would want to be engaged to you?" She asked with disgust in her voice.

"Every woman in this damn office building." He replied smugly. She rolled her eyes as she crossed her legs.

"Oh, right. I forgot. There _are _a lot of women here with a bad taste in men." He scoffed.

"This coming from the woman who dated Ronald Weasley for a time."

"I would rather not mention that momentary lapse in my judgement." Her face twisted. "What about you and that blonde girl you were with for all that time? Or the redhead last year?"

"Like you said, it was a momentary lapse in my judgement." He glanced at the clock. "How about this. My lunch break is in a minute, and I'm pretty sure yours is too. We can talk about this over some food." She nodded after a moment, satisfied.

"That sounds good. Meet me at my office." She got up and walked to the door. It was only when she got to her own office did she allow herself to breathe a sigh of relief. The worst part was over. He had agreed to be her fake fiancee. She walked back to the overflowing stack of 'emails' and answered them all with something around the wording of 'You'll see.' Then, she picked up her purse and glanced at the clock. She could definitely use a break, even is it was lunch with Malfoy. She did a quick check on her hair and makeup with her small mirror, then walked to the door and left. He was standing there when she came out, and he nodded at her.

"Anywhere in particular that you would like to go?" She stopped herself from saying something about him asking _her _preference for once and shook her head.

"I usually eat lunch with Ginny, so I don't know very many places to go. You can choose." He quirked an eyebrow and she added, "You know, that's not too expensive." He smirked.

"That's what I thought." He commented as he led her away. She ignored him, not in the mood to argue. "Are you okay with walking?"

"It's fine with me."

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**Wow. That was really late. Sorry about that, but my life has been in a crazy loop for the last few months. I actually have almost all of this written out, I just never seem to get around to typing it up. *Sighs* **

**Anyways, thanks for reading. Reviews are very much appreciated!**


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